Whimsical, funny and heart warming, You Can’t Take It with You, like all classics, has stood the test of time. With a Pulitzer Prize-winning play as its source material, the film is a class act in every respect. Director Frank Capra called its central message one of “Love Thy Neighbor,” and the message, elegant in its simplicity, is just as relevant today as it was seventy years ago. You Can’t Take It with You marked the first of three highly successful collaborations between director Frank Capra and actor James Stewart. The other two were Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). While James Stewart had made a few films by the time he did You Can’t Take It with You, he was not yet a star. Frank Capra had tremendous faith in Stewart as a leading man, and the film’s success was a great boost to Stewart’s career, helping establish him as a bona fide star. A true ensemble piece, You Can’t Take It with You boasts one of the most distinguished casts ever to appear in the same film. Actors include Lionel Barrymore, Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Edward Arnold, Spring Byington, Ann Miller, Donald Meek, Dub Taylor, and Mary Forbes.
› Growing up, James Stewart penned and starred in a series of plays that he performed for neighborhood audiences in the basement of his home. His siblings and friends were often recruited to appear in minor roles, and together they were known as the Stewart Basement Players.
› When James was thirteen years old, he got a summer job as a film projectionist at the local nickelodeon. In those early days of cinema, movie projectors had to be cranked by hand and required the precise alternation of color tinting plates. It was a challenging task, but one that James relished and allowed him to spend endless hours watching movies.
› James’s love of acting was equaled by his passion for aviation. Meticulously building and painting model airplanes was a lifelong hobby even before he became an aviator himself. James’s nineteenth birthday was especially memorable, as it coincided with the launch of his childhood hero Charles Lindbergh’s historic, trans-Atlantic flight from New York to Paris, France. This lifelong admiration would lead to Stewart playing Lindbergh in the 1957 biopic, The Spirit of St. Louis, directed by Billy Wilder.
›You Can’t Take It with You was based on the Broadway play that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1937. The play had a cast of 19 characters, whereas the film ultimately included parts for a total of 153 actors.
› The play was so popular that its run had not ended on Broadway when the film version was released, making it the first time in history that a film and the play from which it was adapted were shown at the same time. The play is among the most revived in America, and was made into at least four television productions thus far. The film went on to win Oscars® for Best Picture and Best Director.
› James Stewart was naturally tall and lanky throughout his adolescence and adult life no matter how much food he ate or how many glasses of milk he drank. Director Frank Capra asked James to gain some much needed weight for his portrayal of the Tony Kirby character. James gorged on Butterfinger candy bars but was unable to put on a single pound. His weight remained at 140 lbs throughout the entire film.
MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN (1936)
Gary Cooper is the "pixilated" small-town resident who refuses to let a $20 million inheritance alter his down-to-earth faith in people, in Frank Capra's delightful comedy co-starring Jean Arthur
ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (1941)
Frank Capra's filming of the Broadway black comedy about an odd Brooklyn family, and the two sweet old ladies whose basement holds a murderously funny secret, stars Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, and Josephine Hull.
HARVEY (1950)
James Stewart stars as a good-hearted inebriate whose constant companion is a six-foot, invisible rabbit named Harvey.
BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE (1958)
About-to-be-married publisher James Stewart finds himself smitten with Kim Novak, but is shocked to find out she's a witch! An oddbeat fantasy-romance co-starring Jack Lemmon and Ernie Kovacs.
EASY LIVING (1937)
When millionaire Edward Arnold throws his wife's new fur coat out the window, it lands on office girl Jean Arthur, who gets a whole new life she never could have imagined in this screwball comedy.
YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938)
A girl from an eccentric family falls for the son of a conservative banker in this popular film version of the Kaufman/Hart stage play starring Jean Arthur, James Stewart and Lionel Barrymore. Directed by Frank Capra.
You Can't Take It with You -- (Movie Clip) A Mouse!
You Can't Take It with You -- (Movie Clip) We Had a Date!
You Can't Take It with You -- (Movie Clip) Home Sweet Home
You Can't Take It with You -- (Movie Clip) Date and Dinner
› Growing up, James Stewart penned and starred in a series of plays that he performed for neighborhood audiences in the basement of his home. His siblings and friends were often recruited to appear in minor roles, and together they were known as the Stewart Basement Players.
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